We have all experienced the frustration of poor service and the negative behaviours of people who really don’t appear to be enjoying their jobs.
The idea for this blog came whilst travelling on EasyJet or SqueezyJet as I am known to call it. I was so impressed from the moment I boarded by the behaviour of the Cabin Manager Nani.
What was so good?
On Boarding
- eye contact with every passenger
- friendly greetings that varied and seemed natural
- smiles, lots of them!
Formal greeting
How many of you have listened to the robot like welcome? This was not for Nani! I was sitting near the front so had a birds eye view. Her welcome was
- warm and genuine – this was evidenced by the tone of her voice
- friendly – lots of smiles and eye contact
- appreciative – she introduced her colleagues with words like “the lovely …
- upbeat – she showed passion for her role during the flight
In flight service
Nani was leading by setting the pace for her colleagues. Whilst preparing for the trolley run she was chatting in a friendly way with her team member. The food service run was fast and expert. At the end she thanked her colleague for her support, you could see the effect. I believe you can never thank enough. It does not cost a penny but it is priceless.
As we were about to land – her colleague pointed out that Nani had made a mistake, Nani took this with grace and made a joke of it with all the customers. A lesson for everyone here – nobody is perfect and it is what you learn from mistakes, how you recover from them, and how you admit that you have not done something that really demonstrates the trust and openness that should be in every relationship.
So what was the impact?
There is no doubt that Nani is an excellent representative for EasyJet.
From a customer’s point of view it was a good flight. From her colleagues point of view you could see them following their manager’s behaviour so being driven to deliver and role modelling good behaviour paid off with a smooth and pleasant flight.
Nani inspired them to work well and made it appear easy but you and I know how hard this is!
So the $64,000 question – is Nani a natural or has EasyJet undertaken some excellent training for their cabin managers?
What do you think?
And finally, there is still time to enter our summer competition with a chance to win a bottle of Ridgeview bubbly for the best three statements:
- The HR specialist who
- The Learning and Development manager who
- The HR or People Director who
The deadline date for entries 1st October 2013. Definitely something for you to play with whilst on the beach!